Manama: Around 250 Bahrainis living abroad will head back to the country's 24 embassies, four consulates and two UN missions in New York and Geneva to cast ballots for the remaining nine lawmakers.
Under Bahrain's elections laws, Bahraini expatriates keep the right to elect their lawmakers and cast their ballots four days before their countrymen at home.
The first-round election results from voting last Tuesday abroad and on Saturday in Bahrain were final for 31 constituencies, but incomplete for the other nine.
According to the official figures, 56 Bahrainis abroad will have to choose who between Ahmad Al Mulla and Sharekh Al Dossary, the two independent candidates in the third constituency of the Southern Governorate, will make his first steps in the lower chamber.
However, only 17 Bahrainis will cast ballots in the much-anticipated duel between Eisa Al Qadi, an independent, and Muneera Fakhroo, the only woman to make it to the second round and one of the two candidates remaining on the National Democratic Action Society "Waad" ticket.
The other Bahrainis will elect the remaining seven candidates.
Al Wefaq won the 18 constituencies in which it fielded candidates, but the Islamic Menbar has a dismal performance after none of its eight candidates secured a seat, the worst result for the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot since 2002 when parliament was reinvigorated after a three-decade hiatus. The society now hopes that it will do much better thanks to its five candidates in the second round.
Al Asala, the other pillar of Sunni Islamists, fared almost as badly, carrying only two constituencies and pushing two candidates for a second chance in the run-offs.
